On Nov 9, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Arthaey Angosii wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Matthew Turnbull <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>> I have know people to use -ase and -ose as clitics as well, for
>> enzymes
>> whose name they can't remember in informal situations.
>>
>> # please note that I have a tendency to use ness as a clitic as
>> well to
>> nominalize phrases.
>
> FWIW, I have the same usage of "ness" and, when I was taking
> chemistry, was known to use "ase" in such a manner as well. :)
I've noticed that it's becoming more common for people to attach -ness
to nouns, with the meaning "the quality of being ___". I have used it
myself at least once that I can recall, but it still sounds
ungrammatical to me.
>
> My gut feeling is that my own usage here is influenced by being a
> programmer and having mostly programmer friends:
> http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html . Although I
> suspect that this is not at all limited to hacker culture...
>
>
> --
> AA